I have "waterproof" panniers to carry my clothes, lunch, and laptop to and from work. The laptop is the main reason that I have the "waterproof" panniers and they do a good job in keeping everthing dry even in a downpour.

Riding home one afternoon there was a storm on the way but I thought I could get home before it hit so I left the rain coat in the pannier and got going as fast as I could. About 4 kms from home the rain caught me so I stopped under a bridge and opened the pannier with my rain gear in it (and also my laptop) put on rain coat and pants and quickly rode home. Got home and mrs westab asked why one of my panniers was open - lucky that the laptop was only damp but the laptop bag was very wet. (glad it wasn't 5km)

jimboss wrote:Today I was riding along and noticed my saddlebag's shadow looked odd. Turns out it had been wide open for the last 15km. Only lost a co2 canister.

And the other day I forgot to take my iPod out of my jersey... Yes, it got washed. I'm usually good with checking pockets, but its my first jersey, and well, I'm not used to pockets on a shirt!

Anyone else care to share their idiot moments?

Your iPod should survive. I have washed mine with no ill effects.

It's well and truely dead. Lived a hard life, dropped many times. The screen was cracked so badly that it didn't register touch properly. Which was a pain, being a Nano, there wasn't much screen real estate, so once the touch started playing up it was a mission to attempt to use outside of shaking to shuffle and using the tactile buttons to adjust volume.

Needless to say, I resisted binning it. It had been in the above state for a good six months.

But after being washed it's well and truely dead, doesn't turn on, doesn't play music, etc.

ldrcycles wrote:That's why i don't use saddlebags, ever since a MTB race where the zip rattled loose and i lost all my tools and spares .

What I couldn't believe was I pulled up at traffic lights with other riders around (and behind me), nobody cared to mention my saddlebag was open!

I also couldn't believe I lost a single co2 canister as I'd been riding over bumpy stuff, done a couple of descents, quite a spirited ride really... when I realised it was open I imagined everything being gone, maybe the tubes hung around. Stoked on it really. haha

I left my saddlebag cover (for a Topeak Dynapack) open one day as I started riding down from Kinglake, heading south. I'd ridden several km before I heard the minipump falling out of the pack. Luckily for me that was the only item that fell out and the pump wasn't even damaged, so I picked it up, closed the pack and rode home feeling a bit annoyed with myself.

Heard plenty of tales of forgotten helmets. Managed to forget water bottles before, but only on 20km rides, so no biggie. I've seen a couple of people drive to the ride meet point, only to look around in the car for their shoes, which are still at home, naturally.

Personally, my #1 idiot moment was riding around with my head down, not paying any real attention, when suddenly I'm on the deck. I looked up to realise I'd hit a parked car. I tagged it with the left end of the bars, and sheared the brake lever off the bolt, but the front wheel had missed. Two inches further to the right and I'd have missed it altogether. Luckily it was a quiet suburban street so I didn't get run over as well.

I was riding to start of group ride....Noticed something dangeling on my legs. Whats that?.... Ow....They where my braces from my bib nicks.....

Had to go offroad to fix it.....

I do that all the time. I tend to show up wearing my bibs with the straps down and a t-shirt. That way I can stick the jersey on quickly in public. I often forget that I'm wearing bibs, and not knicks.

I must have looked funny running back up the track, dodging the oncoming hoardes and the photography gear when I lost the saddle bag during the Highland Fling MTB event last year at a rough location where the photographers were getting action shots. I'd left one strap undone, and the other decided to rip free. Luckily someone noticed and told me. My favourite minni tool was in there. Needless to say, multi tool now lives elsewhere, tubes etc still in saddlebag.

bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

familyguy wrote:Heard plenty of tales of forgotten helmets. Managed to forget water bottles before, but only on 20km rides, so no biggie. I've seen a couple of people drive to the ride meet point, only to look around in the car for their shoes, which are still at home, naturally.

SHOES! Yes. This is what prompted me to set up a race bag. I used to grab everything I needed and head out the door, until one night, after sitting in trraffic for an hour, I arrived at the velodrome to find I had no shoes. Fortunately, the host club had some pedals with toe-clips, so I got permission from the comms and raced hipster style.

Now I have a bag with all of my race kit in it. It is used only for races. Things go straight back in there when I am finished with them and they don't get taken out again until I'm at the next race. It's saved me lots of hassle and mental effort, but it did cost me an extra set of shoes, helmet, gloves, arm warmers etc. I also keep my race license in there since some clubs won't let you race unless you have your physical license there.

I've got a bit of a routine for the ride to work now that I've forgotten things like socks, swipe ID card, brush etc a few times, but a few months ago I was kicking around at home before work in thongs - as you do in Darwin - and then found I was still in them when I got to work.

I wore shoe covers from the operating theatre over my thongs for a while until bumping into a friend who was finishing night shift. She leant me her still-warm fluorescent Crocs for the day...

Who is online

About the Australian Cycling Forums

The largest cycling discussion forum in Australia for all things bike; from new riders to seasoned bike nuts, the Australian Cycling Forums are a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.